Hiroshima (1995)
Directors: Koreyoshi Kurahara, Roger Spottiswoode.
Cast:
American Side:
Kenneth Welsh (Harry Truman), Richard D. Masur (General Leslie Groves), Wesley
Addy (Henry Stimson), Sheena Larkin (Bess Truman), Leni Parker (Margaret
Truman), Jeffrey DeMunn (J. Robert Oppenheimer), David Gow (Tibbets), Eleanor
Yeoman (Eleanor Roosevelt), David Hemblen (Steve Early), George R. Robertson
(Admiral Leahy), Timothy West (Winston Churchill), Mark Camacho (pilot Chas
Sweeney), Charles Powell (bomber Kermit Beahan), Teddy Lee Dillon (Dehart--Tail
Gunner), Gary Reineke (Deak Parsons), Ken Jenkins (James Byrnes), Saul Rubinek
(Leo Szilard), Leon Pownall (General Marshall), James Bradford (Admiral King),
Kurt Reis (General Handy), Bernard Behrens (John McCloy), Vlasta Vrana (General
Farrell), J.W. Carroll (Chief Justice Stone), Alain Goulem (Captain Robert
Lewis).
Japanese Side:
Naohiko Umewaka (Emperor Hirohito), Tatsuo Matsumura (Kantaro Suzuki), Kohji
Takahashi (General Korechika Anami), Hisashi Igawa (Shigenori Togo), Shigeru
Kohyama (Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai), Hiroshi Hasegawa (Tadaatsu Ishiguro), Akira
Kuto (Sadajiro Toyoda), Mitsuro Yamazaki (Hiromasa Matsusaka), Motoharu Tamura (Hosaku
Hirose), Kazuo Arai (Tadahiko Okada), Asao Matsumoto (Heigoro Sakurai), Yuusake
Mine (Toji Yasui), Toshi Shioya (Hisatsune Sakomiza), Tetsuya Itoh (Tsukizo
Akinaga), Kusuo Kita (Sumihisa Ikeda), Osamu Kato (Naoyoshi Murase), Zenichi
Inagawa (Kiichiro Hiranuma), Senzaburo Makimura (Hajime Suzuki), Muromaru Koda
(General Yoshijiro Umezu),Sakae Koike (Admiral Soemu Toyoda), Yuzo Hayakawa
(Admiral Koshiro Oikawa), Masao Ishiguro (Lieutenant General Masao Yoshizumi),
Arima Mitsutaka (Vice Admiral Zenshiro Hosina), Akira Hamada (Lieutenant General
Koshior Kawabe), Ryuichi Horibe (Colonel Sato),Daisaku Akino (Lieutenant Colonel
Ryuzo Sejima), Hiroshi Shimizu (Lieutenant Colonel Masahiko Takeshita).
Country: Canadian-Japanese film made for cable.
This is the story of the dropping of the atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hirsoshima to end WWII in Asia. The Canadian team made the American part of the story, while the Japanese team made the Japanese part of the story and then the two were interwoven. A lot of newsreels and armed forces clips are used along with the dramatized parts. The film combines commentary from real persons involved in the event, both American and Japanese, along with the regular movie format. The film presents in detail the debate over whether to use the atomic weapon, showing the complexities of the situation and the multiple actors in the drama.
The Japanese version (with subtitles) shows just how stubborn the armed forces were in wanting to carry on with the war and to resist even with young girls using sharpened bamboo sticks.
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